Reducing Configuration of OAM Signalling Data

Abstract

OAM data is automatically configured by each node of an Ethernet network. The OAM data is required to support an OAM signalling session associated with a connection for carrying data traffic between nodes. The OAM data can be derived from data already associated with all endpoints of the connection. The node can derive the OAM data autonomously. A node which is an endpoint of an OAM signalling session automatically derives an identifier for the first endpoint. The first identifier can be autonomously derived by the node and other signalling content, such as source MAC address, is used to differentiate OAM signalling messages. Alternatively, a node can automatically configure the first identifier on the basis of information stored locally at the node and signalling with a second endpoint. The OAM data can be IEEE 802.1ag or ITU Y.1731 data.

1 . A method of configuring OAM data at a node of an Ethernet network to support an OAM signalling session associated with a connection for carrying data traffic, the method comprising:
 the node automatically configuring OAM data required at the node to support the OAM signalling session, by deriving the OAM data from data already associated with endpoints of the connection.   
   
   
       2 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the step of automatically configuring OAM data at the node automatically derives an identifier for an OAM signalling session using a naming convention, the naming convention being common to all nodes which participate in the OAM signalling session. 
   
   
       3 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the connection is a service between endpoint nodes and the OAM data is an identifier for an OAM signalling session for the service. 
   
   
       4 . A method according to  claim 3  wherein the service is defined by a Service Identifier (I-SID), and at least part of the Service Identifier is used to configure the identifier for the OAM signalling session associated with the service. 
   
   
       5 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the connection is a trunk between endpoint nodes and the OAM data is an identifier for an OAM signalling session for the trunk. 
   
   
       6 . A method according to  claim 5  wherein the trunk is a PBB-TE trunk which is defined by at least one of:
 the triple of: a source MAC address; a destination MAC address; a VLAN identifier (VID);   the four tuple of: a source MAC address; a destination MAC address; a forward VLAN identifier (VID); a reverse VLAN identifier (VID);   a trunk name;   
     and the method uses at least one of these items to configure the identifier for the OAM signalling session associated with the trunk. 
   
   
       7 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the node autonomously derives the identifier for the OAM signalling session. 
   
   
       8 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the node automatically configures a first identifier for an OAM signalling session and the method further comprises:
 receiving a second identifier for the OAM signalling session that has been derived by a second node participating in the OAM signalling session; and   if the second identifier has a different value to the first identifier, selecting one of the identifiers for use as the identifier of the OAM signalling session.   
   
   
       9 . A method according to  claim 8  wherein each of the nodes participating in the OAM signalling session has a MAC address, and one of the first and second identifiers is selected based on the respective MAC addresses of the nodes. 
   
   
       10 . A method according to  claim 1  where the OAM data is an identifier for the OAM signalling session and is a Maintenance Association Identifier (MAID) or a Maintenance Entity Group Identifier (MEG ID). 
   
   
       11 . A computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium bearing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the method of  claim 1 . 
   
   
       12 . A network node of an Ethernet network comprising a processor which is configured to perform the method of  claim 1 . 
   
   
       13 . A method of configuring OAM data at a node of an Ethernet network to support an OAM signalling session associated with a connection for carrying data traffic, wherein the node is a first endpoint of an OAM signalling session, there also being a second endpoint of the OAM signalling session, the method comprising:
 automatically selecting a first identifier for the first endpoint.   
   
   
       14 . A method according to  claim 13  wherein the step of automatically selecting comprises selecting the first identifier independently of the second endpoint. 
   
   
       15 . A method according to  claim 14 , wherein the node indicates that the identifier of the first endpoint has been locally selected by modifying a part of the identifier when signalling to other nodes. 
   
   
       16 . A method according to  claim 14  wherein the node determines when an OAM signalling message has been sent by the second endpoint by inspecting a source address in an OAM signalling message. 
   
   
       17 . A method according to  claim 13  wherein the step of automatically configuring comprises selecting the first identifier on the basis of information stored locally at the node and signalling with the second endpoint. 
   
   
       18 . A method according to  claim 17  further comprising:
 receiving a second identifier which the second endpoint has locally selected as an identifier for the second endpoint of the OAM signalling session; and   if the first identifier has the same value as the second identifier, determining if the node needs to modify the value of the first identifier.   
   
   
       19 . A method according to  claim 18  wherein each of the nodes participating in the OAM signalling session has a MAC address, and the respective MAC addresses of the nodes are used to determine if the node needs to modify the value of the first identifier. 
   
   
       20 . A method according to  claim 13  where the identifier for the endpoint of the OAM signalling session is a Maintenance association End Point Identifier (MEPID) or a MEG End Point Identifier (MEP ID). 
   
   
       21 . A computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium bearing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the method of  claim 13 . 
   
   
       22 . A network node of an Ethernet network comprising a processor which is configured to perform the method of  claim 13 . 
   
   
       23 . A method of configuring OAM data at a node of an Ethernet network to support an OAM signalling session associated with a connection for carrying data traffic, the method comprising:
 using a global default value for an OAM maintenance domain (MD) to be applied to each type of connection;   automatically configuring an OAM maintenance domain (MD) with the default value.   
   
   
       24 . A method according to  claim 23  wherein the global default value is different for each type of connection. 
   
   
       25 . A method according to  claim 24  wherein the types of connection are: link; trunk; PBB B-VID; service, pseudo-wire. 
   
   
       26 . A method according to  claim 23  wherein the global default value for each type of connection farther comprises a default value for the OAM maintenance domain (MD) level. 
   
   
       27 . A computer program product comprising a machine-readable medium bearing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the method of  claim 23 . 
   
   
       28 . A network node of an Ethernet network comprising a processor which is configured to perform the method of  claim 23 .